Baritone

Press

Stephen Ward That Man Stephen Ward – Cheltenham Festival

“…the superb Damian Thantrey…evokes the Profumo affair in all its seedy sensationalism…he brilliantly captures Ward’s mixture of faux-poshness, camp bonhomie, oily obsequiousness and deep insecurity. He speaks and sings over a score that deftly conjures up the songs and dances of the era but which also has an apt, brittle edge…”

The Times, Richard Morrison

“The opera takes the form of a soliloquy – speech, recitatives, arias and cabaret songs all enacted by Damian Thantrey as Ward…magnificent [and] eminently believable in the role of Ward and in all the other parts as well…[his] performance is electrifying; if I see acting of such depth and power again this year. I shall be both surprised and delighted.”

“…excellently judged performances from the entire cast…the pompous striding of Damian Thantrey as Cinderella’s aristocratic prince, and Francesca Jackson’s flouncy, naughty Little Red Riding Hood all joined in this company triumph.”

The SoldierLes Amoureux – Company Chordelia
“The Soldier himself brings a superb additional dimension to the piece. Sung beautifully by the excellent baritone Damian Thantrey, his appearance as the innocent conscript, pushing his bicycle tentatively into the vampire’s lair, reminds us how rarely we hear truly accomplished song in Scottish theatre.”

Sunday Herald, Mark Brown

Blazes, The Lighthouse – Psappha/Orkney Festival“This latest production, mounted by the Manchester-based Psappha ensemble at Lancaster University…stands out among the many I’ve seen… here are three fine singers, each doubling as one of the support-ship officers who discovered the still unexplained disappearance of the keepers of the Flannan Isle light in the Outer Hebrides in 1900. The tenor James Oxley as Sandy, the keeper with the murky sexual past, the baritone Damian Thantrey as Blazes, with his violent past, and the bass-baritone Jonathan Best as the Bible-bashing Arthur are splendidly at home in their roles…”

“Cast adrift from familiar musical languages of mood and of character, Damian Thantrey does brilliantly to flesh out the character of Chao Lin…Weir’s beautifully taught passages of music and a tension between vocalist and orchestra in which subtle changes in instrumentation or vocal styles precipitate thrilling swings of mood or emotion. The director helps here, having cast a very striking looking actor in Thantrey, whose strong facial features flicker between the imperious road-builder and the vulnerable orphan.”

“My laurels went to…Damian Thantrey, a vocally flexible young baritone who moves more intelligently than the rest and has vestiges of a fledgling Thomas Hampson.”

The Independent, Roderic Dunnett

“…and servant Nardo (Damian Thantrey – a beautifully sung performance, this is a name to watch)”

Oxford Times, Giles Woodford

“the imposing Damian Thantrey as Nardo is excellent, with Thantrey wittily exploiting his act-two aria contrasting French and English manners.”

The Guardian, Edward Greenfield

Count Almaviva, The Marriage of Figaro – Savoy Opera

“Leading off for the gentry are Damian Thantrey’s dangerous, insecure Count – a riveting performance”

The Stage, George Hall

“Damian Thantrey is a handsome peacock of a Count, a sexual predator with a veneer of nobility, all too easily peeled away as his clandestine infidelities are unmasked.”

The Sunday Times, Hugh Canning

Kindertotenlieder – Rambert Dance Company

“The dancers are outshone only by the wonderful voice of baritone Damian Thantrey who is present on stage singing out the tragic story throughout their dancing…The high point of the evening for me though was the beautiful resonance in baritone Damian Thantrey’s voice”